The Biggest Man In Cricket with former Proteas all-rounder Dave Callaghan.
Image: The Biggest Man In Cricket
Recently I had the honour of being welcomed into the home of former Proteas allrounder Dave Callaghan. We had been chatting for a while but had never met in person, so when my team and I had the opportunity to travel to the Eastern Cape to interview both him and current Warriors coach Robin Peterson, we didn’t hesitate.
Callaghan, a name synonymous with South African cricket history, lives in St Francis, just an hour from Gqeberha, where he enjoys the quiet life with his wife and their pets. His story is one of grit, determination and success. It is not measured only by statistics but, more importantly, by how inspirational he was to a generation of cricket fans during his brave fight with testicular cancer, all while carving out a playing career.
It is a cause he has since become a passionate advocate for through the Cancer Association of South Africa. April marked Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, and we partnered with Takealot on a powerful campaign. They created an indentation on all packages delivered during the month, encouraging men to ‘Check Your Package’ in more ways than one.
Rather predictably, Callaghan was quite open in sharing some hilarious stories from an era before social media, when players were perhaps less focused on fitness and diet and more on finding the nearest pub.
What stood out most to me, however, was that in retirement he has remained deeply involved in cricket in the Eastern Cape, a region that has produced some of the finest talent to wear the Proteas shirt - Kepler Wessels, Meyrick Pringle, Dave Richardson, Brett Schultz, Mark Boucher, Makhaya Ntini, Mark Rushmere, Louis Koen, Ashwell Prince, and Peterson, to name but a few. They all hail from the region and, more recently, players such as Anrich Nortje, Matthew Breetzke and Tristan Stubbs have continued that legacy.
“My son and Tristan were at school together at Grey College. For seven years, from 2013 to 2020, I coached there, so I had Matthew Breetzke, Lutho Sipamla and Tristan Stubbs coming through my team. I wasn’t the head coach but I was involved in the background, so I got to know Tristan like one of my own sons. He has been to my home a few times. He is making a lot of money now, but he is one of the most grounded young men you will ever meet. Matthew has also developed into an excellent cricketer, so both of them have made Gqeberha proud,” said Callaghan.
This season the Warriors ended a 15-year T20 trophy drought by lifting the CSA T20 Challenge. It was no coincidence that the team was led by Peterson and captained by Matthew de Villiers, whose ties to the region run deep through his uncle, Pieter ‘Striker’ Strydom, another Eastern Cape cricket great.
In our interview, Peterson pointed out that this is one of the few provincial systems in the country that maintains such close ties with cricketing schools in the region. That connection can only strengthen the pipeline of talent.
Players like Stubbs may earn more in a single SA20 or IPL season than many Gqeberha legends did across their entire careers, but one thing remains certain: Their upbringing in this region helps keep them grounded. When their playing days are over, they will understand the responsibility of nurturing the next Stubbs, Breetzke or Nortje.
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